Gas Leak Calls Are on The Rise in Baldwin County Part 2

EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

PART TWO

By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News

January 24, 2025

FOLEY, Ala. 

During 2025, more than eighty calls were made to 911 and to area gas companies reporting a smell of gas at a person’s home, business or in a neighborhood according to public safety officials and representatives of those gas companies.

Looking at each call made, its location and the results of that emergency call, I discovered that most of the calls placed were made in earnest and that there were about two dozen actual leaks discovered because of those calls.
At those locations, some needed immediate attention and in several of the leaks, they needed large scale repairs.
There’s no doubt that some of those calls may have prevented a catastrophe, possible injuries and even deaths.

Natural and propane gases have no smell.
The US began mandating that a scent (specifically mercaptan, which smells like rotten eggs) be added to natural gas in 1937. This action was taken immediately following the catastrophic March 18, 1937, New London School explosion in Texas, which killed nearly 300 people.

The explosion was caused by an undetected leak of odorless natural gas.
Texas passed a law shortly after the disaster, with federal requirements following later that same year.
The additive is colorless, highly odorous sulfur-containing compounds used primarily as safety odorants in odorless gases like natural gas, propane, and butane and has a very distinct odor.
Without this additive, a gas leak would go unnoticed until it was too late.

Frequently, when a person believes that they have detected a gas leak, a call is placed to the Baldwin County 911 Communications Center and as is the procedure in most jurisdictions across the country, the fire department is dispatched to the address or area investigate.
Many, but unfortunately not all, fire departments have gas detection meters that can detect certain gases and measure the gas content of the air while giving alerts for high concentrations.

Firefighters report that information back to their dispatchers and if there is a possible leak in the area, they will call the local utility company or private gas supplier to respond to the scene.
Fire departments often stand by while repairs are being made because of the inherent dangers.

While researching possible reasons for the calls and the apparent increase in actual leaks, I found that there are at least four reasons and utility company representatives agreed with my findings.

1. Nationwide, and here along the Gulf Coast, there has been a lot of work by utility companies and fire departments to educate the public about gas odors, leaks and what to do if they suspect a leak, starting with leave the area and call 911.
   The public has seen and heard this information for more than fifty years but during the past ten years as the use of natural gas has increased, so too has the education and public information.
   
   
2. Another factor, one that is being addressed locally and nationwide, is the aging of the infrastructure including roads and bridges, utility transmission methods including pipes, cables and various passages, and the need for its replacement.
   Baldwin County, which was founded on December 21, 1809, making it one of the state’s oldest counties and predating Alabama’s statehood by ten years is growing and straining the county roads and utilities.
   Daphne, Alabama, was officially established on April 9, 1874, when its first post office was designated. While the area was settled earlier and was known as “The Village” in the late 1700s—the town was incorporated on July 8, 1927. As of 2026, the town is 152 years old since its 1874 founding, or 99 years old since its 1927 incorporation.
   Fairhope, Alabama, was founded in November 1894, making it over 130 years.
   
   Many areas of Baldwin County are seeing the results of aging and the continual growth in population, new homes and businesses and the increased demands caused on the older infrastructure which in many areas needs updated or replaced.
   Gas transmission pipes are beginning to crack, break and leak, sometimes undetected.
   
   
3. An increase in the use of natural gas and in some cases, propane gas, is also one of the reasons for the increase of reported gas odors or actual gas leaks.
   Everywhere that you look in Baldwin County, subdivisions, shopping centers and apartments are being built with some using natural gas for heating, cooking and decorative fireplaces.
   With the increased construction comes the inevitable heavy equipment strike on underground utilities.
   In Alabama, a call to 811 helps contractors to avoid striking those utilities.
   But some of the actual gas leaks in our area were caused by workers laying fiber or installing underground utilities to a new subdivision.
   
   
4. Density of population is another reason for the rise in calls according to fire officials.
   When you live in the country, your neighbor is not in your backyard or within a foot from the house next door. But with Baldwin County quickly changing from country life to more of a populated metropolitan area, houses are packed into smaller areas which can cause people to smell everything from people cooking, nearby fireplaces or trash burning to the various smells of a dense population and that could include an order that smells like a gas leak.

 
In talking with representatives from the utility companies in Baldwin County, including Danny Scott with Riviera Utilities, these are some of the primary reasons for the increased calls, but they emphasized that they would rather have people call and not ignore the smell because it could be a serious and dangerous leak.
Spokespersons for fire departments echoed that they too want the public to call whenever they believe that there’s a gas leak and they’ll respond and investigate.

During our review of the calls from 2025, not surprisingly, the cities with the fastest growth including those on the Eastern Shore, Foley and the beach communities, were the ones who reported many of the gas odors.

A few days before speaking with Mr. Scott, residents of a neighborhood in Gulf Shores called 911 fifteen times during a twenty-four-hour period and each person reported the same thing “a smell of gas”.
Mr. Scott stated that personnel with Riviera Utilities and firefighters were dispatched each time, but no leaks were found.
The odor that area residents were smelling dissipated by the next day and exactly what the smell was, is still a mystery.

At times, gas does seep up from the ground or through a release valve or through natural means and its smell can be gone in minutes or a few hours. 

Our investigation did not find any one reason for the escalation in the calls, nor a higher risk of gas leak emergencies, even with the growth in our communities.

But the one thing that echoed in my conversations with the experts was that if you do smell something that is believed to be gas, call 911.

We’ve all heard that it’s “better safe than sorry” and in these situations, it definitely is.

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